Naftali Kinuthia Jailed For 40 Years For Ivy Wangechi Murder

Naftali Kinuthia, the main suspect in the killing of Moi University medical student, Ivy Wangechi in April 2019, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.

The High Court in Eldoret on Thursday, December 14 sentenced Kinuthia to serve four decades behind bars, more than a month after it found him guilty of the heinous murder.

Justice Stephen Githinji who has been presiding over the trial of the case since 2019, ruled that the offence committed was brutal and called for a harsh sentence against the accused.

The judge remarked that an innocent soul was lost but had also considered pleadings by lawyer Mathenge Wokabi for the accused and lawyers for the victim.

Naftali Kinuthia talks to his lawyer at the High Court in Eldoret on April 15, 2019. /FILE

The lawyers for the victim and the state had called for the death penalty to be imposed on Kinuthia but Githinji struck out the plea, stating that the court could not buy the idea of a tooth for a tooth in delivering the judgement.

Earlier, Kinuthia had pleaded for a non-custodial sentence saying it would give him a second chance in life. Lawyer Wokabi made a passionate plea in mitigation before Justice Githinji issued the verdict.

"Your honour we plead for a non-custodial sentence to give the accused a second chance in life so that he can re-integrate with his family and society and make out of his educational skills," Wokabi said.

"Although Kinuthia may not have expressed remorse early, he did so during his defence."

Wokabi also argued that the accused had not interfered with witnesses or made any contact with the family of the deceased.

He added that the two families of the accused and deceased had known each other for long and the court should consider the relationship between the two during their good days.

Justice Githinji who is currently based at the Malindi High Court, had indicated that Kinuthia's actions were premeditated, as he used an axe which he had bought to kill Wangechi.

“If he had no intention to kill, he had the opportunity to attack the victim using his bare fist. But he had an axe and a knife and used an axe, a lethal and dangerous weapon, to strike the medical student,” the judge stated.

He added: “The accused had a metal axe with a metal handle and claimed that he had it in the car for security reasons. I do not agree with him. I saw the axe in court, it is the one used in villages to chop firewood and cut trees.

Githinji however tore into the accused for denying that he had a knife, terming it laughable when he claimed in his defense that he was given the knife by a member of the public.

The Judge stated that Kinuthia did not even use the knife he had to attack Wangeci, noting that a knife would have probably given the deceased a second chance to live. 

He also dismissed allegations by Kinuthia in his defence hearing that he was intimately involved with Wangechi. Kinuthia gave his final defence evidence in the murder case at the Eldoret-based High Court on Friday, March 3, almost four years after the murder took place.

He traced his relationship with the late Wangechi to their childhood days in primary school, adding that before her demise, she borrowed him Ksh28,000 to fund her birthday party which he agreed to. 

"She said she planned to have a big party because it was supposed to be the last one with her friends, so she told me she was planning to spend Ksh28,000, that was her budget. She asked me if I could support her with the funds and I accepted," he recalled in part.

He further recalled how he had travelled from Nairobi to Eldoret to wish her happy birthday, after funding the party and seeing his intimate lover and long-time friend hugging another man.

This was despite their relationship being estranged to the point that she had blocked his number for some time making it impossible for him to reach her.